Great customer service: Victorinox

A month or two ago, I noticed that one of the wheels on my suitcase was broken. The outer layer of it (what would be the tire if it had a tire) was falling apart. It still rolled, but kind of bumpily.

The suitcase is a Victorinox Werks Traveler 3.0, which I gather they're not making any more. I bought it about four years ago, and I mostly like it a lot. I poked around on the Victorinox website and didn't find any info about how to get a replacement caster, so I dropped a note to their customer-service email address asking how to go about getting the wheel replaced.

They responded by asking for the suitcase's model number. I found that number (on a tag; I would never have known it was there, but they told me exactly where to look) and emailed it to them, and they told me “I have placed an order for a new wheel assembly.”

I was kind of confused by that—I hadn't given them a credit card number or anything. But I sent a thank-you email and waited to see what would happen. And sure enough, a week later a small package arrived containing a pair of new wheels.

The wheel turned out to be very easy to install; I got out a set of hex wrenches, and five minutes later, I had the old wheel off and the new one on. And now if the other wheel breaks, I'll have a replacement for it as well.

I was expecting to have to spend a fair bit of money and time taking it in to a shop to get it fixed, but instead I got a super-convenient, and free, replacement-by-mail of a broken part on a four-year-old suitcase. I'm very impressed. Thank you, Victorinox!


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